Cisco chats up public network: Acquisition strengthens the vendor's voice protocol support

Cisco Systems, already a heavyweight in private data networking, is muscling its way into the public network.

It recently acquired Sterling, Va.-based LightSpeed International, a middleware vendor that sells proprietary signaling conversion technology supporting SS7 and other protocols. SS7 lets disparate PBXs and central office switches communicate.

Because Cisco's routers and switches are embedded in thousands of enterprise networks, the ability to talk transparently to the public network is a big deal.

"We want the ability to control and connect central office equipment with our hardware equipment," said Alistair Woodman, Cisco's product line manager for packet voice telephony applications. "We have an interest in supporting [SS7] in general, but more of an interest in interfacing legacy equipment with the circuit-switched world. With LightSpeed, we have an opportunity to meet the requirement to connect public and private networks."

Previously, Cisco's routers, such as the 3600 series, were not compatible with the public network in terms of signaling.

The purchase also will help Cisco get its own hardware into the public network, a space Cisco has been wedging itself into for some time.

Rather than peddling Internet protocol (IP), however, Cisco is "taking on the embrace and extending Microsoft strategy," said Dan Taylor, director of telecom research at The Aberdeen Group, Boston. "Cisco knows there's 99.99% reliability already built into the [public network]. They're not going to replace intelligent networks with IP."

Instead, Cisco is learning new languages. LightSpeed's proprietary message definition language (MDL) software lets networks talk to each other via SS7, ISDN and protocols popular in international networks, such as channel associated signaling (CAS). LightSpeed's MDL lets service providers intelligently tailor existing protocols or add support for new protocols without having to resort to costly system or hardware upgrades.

The vendor's voice protocol conversion and intelligent call control software enables signaling to be transmitted between diverse sets of voice protocols and applications, which the vendor says lowers communication costs for both service providers and their business and residential customers.

Industry experts see the $160 million deal as Cisco playing catch-up with market rivals, such as Northern Telecom, Lucent Technologies, DSC, Alcatel and Ericsson, rather than breaking ground.

"This fills in some strategic holes in Cisco's voice capabilities," said Brett Azuma, principal analyst at Dataquest, San Jose.

Taylor agreed. "Cisco needed the ability to integrate with intelligent networks and to get its routers and switches to talk to the [public network]. It's hard to get this expertise without a partnership or acquisition."

Why is it so important for Cisco to talk SS7? Analysts said Cisco eventually wants routers to assume the role of the PBX on the public side of the network. That means routers must be able to sit transparently inside the CO to handle voice tasks.

"For Cisco to continue to grow, it needs to expand to new frontiers like the [public network]," said Azuma.

In the service provider market, carriers are starting to transition from circuit-switched environments to emerging markets such as voice over ATM and voice over IP. "Data over voice and voice over data-we are interested in both of those markets," said Woodman.

LightSpeed, founded in 1995 with 70 employees, will become part of Cisco's Service Provider business division based in Washington. It remains unclear how the new protocol support will affect Cisco's bottom line.